doctools::idx(3tcl) Documentation tools doctools::idx(3tcl)
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NAME
doctools::idx - Holding keyword indices
SYNOPSIS
package require doctools::idx ?2?
package require Tcl 8.4
package require doctools::idx::structure
package require snit
::doctools::idx objectName
objectName method ?arg arg ...?
objectName destroy
objectName key add name
objectName key remove name
objectName key references name
objectName keys
objectName reference add type key name label
objectName reference remove name
objectName reference label name
objectName reference keys name
objectName reference type name
objectName references
objectName title
objectName title text
objectName label
objectName label text
objectName importer
objectName importer object
objectName exporter
objectName exporter object
objectName deserialize = data ?format?
objectName deserialize += data ?format?
objectName serialize ?format?
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DESCRIPTION
This package provides a class to contain and programmatically manipu-
late keyword indices
This is one of the three public pillars the management of keyword in-
dices resides on. The other two pillars are
[1] Exporting keyword indices, and
[2] Importing keyword indices
For information about the Concepts of keyword indices, and their parts,
see the same-named section. For information about the data structure
which is used to encode keyword indices as values see the section Key-
word index serialization format. This is the only format directly
known to this class. Conversions from and to any other format are han-
dled by export and import manager objects. These may be attached to a
container, but do not have to be, it is merely a convenience.
CONCEPTS
[1] A keyword index consists of a (possibly empty) set of keywords.
[2] Each keyword in the set is identified by its name.
[3] Each keyword has a (possibly empty) set of references.
[4] A reference can be associated with more than one keyword.
[5] A reference not associated with at least one keyword is not pos-
sible however.
[6] Each reference is identified by its target, specified as either
an url or symbolic filename, depending on the type of reference
(url, or manpage).
[7] The type of a reference (url, or manpage) depends only on the
reference itself, and not the keywords it is associated with.
[8] In addition to a type each reference has a descriptive label as
well. This label depends only on the reference itself, and not
the keywords it is associated with.
A few notes
[1] Manpage references are intended to be used for references to the
documents the index is made for. Their target is a symbolic file
name identifying the document, and export plugins may replace
symbolic with actual file names, if specified.
[2] Url references are intended on the othre hand are inteded to be
used for links to anything else, like websites. Their target is
an url.
[3] While url and manpage references share a namespace for their
identifiers, this should be no problem, given that manpage iden-
tifiers are symbolic filenames and as such they should never
look like urls, the identifiers for url references.
API
PACKAGE COMMANDS
::doctools::idx objectName
This command creates a new container object with an associated
Tcl command whose name is objectName. This object command is ex-
plained in full detail in the sections Object command and Object
methods. The object command will be created under the current
namespace if the objectName is not fully qualified, and in the
specified namespace otherwise.
OBJECT COMMAND
All objects created by the ::doctools::idx command have the following
general form:
objectName method ?arg arg ...?
The method method and its arg'uments determine the exact behav-
ior of the command. See section Object methods for the detailed
specifications.
OBJECT METHODS
objectName destroy
This method destroys the object it is invoked for.
objectName key add name
This method adds the keyword name to the index. If the keyword
is already known nothing is done. The result of the method is
the empty string.
objectName key remove name
This method removes the keyword name from the index. If the key-
word is already gone nothing is done. Any references for whom
this keyword was the last association are removed as well. The
result of the method is the empty string.
objectName key references name
This method returns a list containing the names of all refer-
ences associated with the keyword name. An error is thrown in
the keyword is not known to the index. The order of the refer-
ences in the list is undefined.
objectName keys
This method returns a list containing the names of all keywords
known to the index. The order of the keywords in the list is un-
defined.
objectName reference add type key name label
This method adds the reference name to the index and associates
it with the keyword key. The other two arguments hold the type
and label of the reference, respectively. The type has to match
the stored information, should the reference exist already, i.e.
this information is immutable after the reference is known. The
only way to change it is delete and recreate the reference. The
label on the other hand is automatically updated to the value of
the argument, overwriting any previously stored information.
Should the reference exists already it is simply associated with
the key. If that is true already as well nothing is done, but
the label updated to the new value. The result of the method is
the empty string.
The type argument has be to one of manpage or url.
objectName reference remove name
The reference name is removed from the index. All associations
with keywords are released and the relevant reference labels re-
moved. The result of the method is the empty string.
objectName reference label name
This method returns the label associated with the reference
name. An error is thrown if the reference is not known.
objectName reference keys name
This method returns a list containing the names of all keywords
associated with the reference name. An error is thrown in the
reference is not known to the index. The order of the keywords
in the list is undefined.
objectName reference type name
This method returns the type of the reference name. An error is
thrown in the reference is not known to the index.
objectName references
This method returns a list containing the names of all refer-
ences known to the index. The order of the references in the
list is undefined.
objectName title
Returns the currently defined title of the keyword index.
objectName title text
Sets the title of the keyword index to text, and returns it as
the result of the command.
objectName label
Returns the currently defined label of the keyword index.
objectName label text
Sets the label of the keyword index to text, and returns it as
the result of the command.
objectName importer
Returns the import manager object currently attached to the con-
tainer, if any.
objectName importer object
Attaches the object as import manager to the container, and re-
turns it as the result of the command. Note that the object is
not put into ownership of the container. I.e., destruction of
the container will not destroy the object.
It is expected that object provides a method named import text
which takes a text and a format name, and returns the canonical
serialization of the keyword index contained in the text, assum-
ing the given format.
objectName exporter
Returns the export manager object currently attached to the con-
tainer, if any.
objectName exporter object
Attaches the object as export manager to the container, and re-
turns it as the result of the command. Note that the object is
not put into ownership of the container. I.e., destruction of
the container will not destroy the object.
It is expected that object provides a method named export object
which takes the container and a format name, and returns a text
encoding keyword index stored in the container, in the given
format. It is further expected that the object will use the con-
tainer's method serialize to obtain the serialization of the
keyword index from which to generate the text.
objectName deserialize = data ?format?
This method replaces the contents of the index object with the
index contained in the data. If no format was specified it is
assumed to be the regular serialization of a keyword index.
Otherwise the object will use the attached import manager to
convert the data from the specified format to a serialization it
can handle. In that case an error will be thrown if the con-
tainer has no import manager attached to it.
The result of the method is the empty string.
objectName deserialize += data ?format?
This method behaves like deserialize = in its essentials, except
that it merges the keyword index in the data to its contents in-
stead of replacing it. The method will throw an error if merg-
ing is not possible, i.e. would produce an invalid index. The
existing content is left unchanged in that case.
The result of the method is the empty string.
objectName serialize ?format?
This method returns the keyword index contained in the object.
If no format is not specified the returned result is the canoni-
cal serialization of its contents.
Otherwise the object will use the attached export manager to
convert the data to the specified format. In that case an error
will be thrown if the container has no export manager attached
to it.
KEYWORD INDEX SERIALIZATION FORMAT
Here we specify the format used by the doctools v2 packages to serial-
ize keyword indices as immutable values for transport, comparison, etc.
We distinguish between regular and canonical serializations. While a
keyword index may have more than one regular serialization only exactly
one of them will be canonical.
regular serialization
[1] An index serialization is a nested Tcl dictionary.
[2] This dictionary holds a single key, doctools::idx, and
its value. This value holds the contents of the index.
[3] The contents of the index are a Tcl dictionary holding
the title of the index, a label, and the keywords and
references. The relevant keys and their values are
title The value is a string containing the title of the
index.
label The value is a string containing a label for the
index.
keywords
The value is a Tcl dictionary, using the keywords
known to the index as keys. The associated values
are lists containing the identifiers of the refer-
ences associated with that particular keyword.
Any reference identifier used in these lists has
to exist as a key in the references dictionary,
see the next item for its definition.
references
The value is a Tcl dictionary, using the identi-
fiers for the references known to the index as
keys. The associated values are 2-element lists
containing the type and label of the reference, in
this order.
Any key here has to be associated with at least
one keyword, i.e. occur in at least one of the
reference lists which are the values in the key-
words dictionary, see previous item for its defi-
nition.
[4] The type of a reference can be one of two values,
manpage
The identifier of the reference is interpreted as
symbolic file name, referring to one of the docu-
ments the index was made for.
url The identifier of the reference is interpreted as
an url, referring to some external location, like
a website, etc.
canonical serialization
The canonical serialization of a keyword index has the format as
specified in the previous item, and then additionally satisfies
the constraints below, which make it unique among all the possi-
ble serializations of the keyword index.
[1] The keys found in all the nested Tcl dictionaries are
sorted in ascending dictionary order, as generated by
Tcl's builtin command lsort -increasing -dict.
[2] The references listed for each keyword of the index, if
any, are listed in ascending dictionary order of their
labels, as generated by Tcl's builtin command lsort -in-
creasing -dict.
BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK
This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain
bugs and other problems. Please report such in the category doctools
of the Tcllib Trackers [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist]. Please
also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package
and/or documentation.
When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs, i.e the out-
put of diff -u.
Note further that attachments are strongly preferred over inlined
patches. Attachments can be made by going to the Edit form of the
ticket immediately after its creation, and then using the left-most
button in the secondary navigation bar.
KEYWORDS
HTML, TMML, conversion, docidx markup, documentation, formatting, gen-
eration, index, json, keyword index, latex, manpage, markup, nroff,
parsing, plugin, reference, tcler's wiki, text, url, wiki
CATEGORY
Documentation tools
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2009 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>
tcllib 2 doctools::idx(3tcl)